Back Bay Ale House — Restaurant in Atlantic City

just awright

so I missed restaurant week and thought since some extended their special menu for another week that I would at least catch one or two. My first pick was this one since I tend to order things when I go out to eat that I do not make at home. One is seafood other than shrimp, which I do make.

Got there to a more-or-less empty place except there was a small group at the bar. Making a LOT of noise. Hey, party however, you do you. But then there was the swearing, bickering, and had I been able to sit outside, I would have asked but the weather did not comply. Nut-uh. I can go to some drama queen dive hole uptown anyday, avoiding panhandlers, grifters, etc. That's why I went to the Basin. They're everywhere! It s a unique flavor, this AC place. Used to be a lot nicer before 'rona. My fault for assuming.

I reviewed the menu in advance at home so I had an idea and wouldn't have to debate the menu to order. But to be honest from what was described on the menu to what you got . . . not 'all that'.

I opted for the loaded chips. They came out cold. I thought the whole idea of house-made real chips was that they were supposed to be in just-made status: hot. The toppings were just ok. It was blue cheese dressing that I feel tasted like a run-of-the mill bottled dressing, blue ch. crumbles, tomato, a small amount of bacon bits that were not improvised bacon, green onion. Mostly chips, though. I picked through a lot and ate the ones that caught the most dressing.

Crab soup was pretty good but I am just not into thickeners. It was not like oatmeal-thick but overall was passable. As another commenter stated, I was kind of wondering why I went to a restaurant to eat out of a take-out cup.

Crab cakes are apparently the rage but I didn't find much lump meat and mostly the shreds and to me they were bland. Maybe the blandness came from what I ate/drank beforehand.

I ordered the fire on the watermelon drink, up (not on the rocks nor a mason). The watermelon was kind of vague and mostly it was heat, though I asked for jalapeno not to be used. I believe it was made accordingly but I was just not feeling the watermelon, which is why I ordered it. It was a bar mix. Ok, really, I just bought a melon at a discount grocery store. Maybe that could be a new bar 'thing': actually MAKE some mixers. It will improve your image. Majorly.

So because of Restaurant Week (and I used to love it when I lived around there), the menu was to be 3 courses for $40.22. Soup/crab cakes were $40.22. I had a drink that was pre-charged $5. The balance of the bill was $62-$63 for a total of $67-$68. So that means loaded chips and the drink cost me $27 added onto the prix fixe. This was a somewhat expensive ordeal given the food quality, which was just mediocre imho. Perhaps it was my choices. I tried to stick with "specialties" because that should indicate the time-honored acumen for what you are serving. It should be a standard staple that has outshined other offerings. It was 'just awright".

P.S. The menu stated chef's choice for dessert. Come on -- prepackaged choc. chip mini cookies is a chef's choice? And asked for double espresso. Lucky for me, I got the last pod in the house for a quick pull to perk me up on my way to the next restaurant review. I will get to it. ...

See update at bottom. Great place to take your family. Great ownership and small business.

This place has gone down hill. The service is horrible. The last two times I’ve been there, the server forgot to put in food that we ordered. For example: We ordered wings for appetizer, our server brought out our entrees and forgot about our wings. She blamed it on the kitchen. She brought the wings out as we were halfway through our dinners. No apology, no offer for discounted appetizer, nothing.

Then we went on a separate occasion where my 7-year old’s dinner wasn’t brought to the table until our entrees were almost finished. The server this time said “oh, they didn’t bring it out yet?” No apology. Paid full price. $240 to not have my daughter’s meal come until the end, server never bussed a dish from our table, nor did she ask us for any drink refills. Plenty of open tables, so the crowd should not be an excuse.

Unfortunately we have a family of 6, so gratuity is automatically added to your check. The major downside to this policy is the server doesn’t have to provide any service. They’ll get 20% no matter what. No incentive to do their job.

These problems are likely management issues, as this was two separate occasions and different servers. I’ve been going here for many years, summer/winter, etc. It is not the same. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere.

Update: The owner reached out to me directly and apologized. The owner is very genuine and personally invited me back to make things right. Very generous and kind. I will update when I return.

Update: We returned on the invitation from the owner. Food was great, service was great. It is very clear that the owner cares greatly about the service to the customers and made corrections for the better. My family appreciates the personal connection from the owner and truly caring to make things right. I will definitely return. The atmosphere is second to none. The food is great and service is...

We have been coming to Back Bay Ale House for three years. Today they lost our business forever- and they managed to do it before they opened for business.

My partner and I arrived about 6 minutes prior to the restaurant opening for the day. While we quietly stood near the outdoor hostess station I noticed a QR code for access to the menu. I began trying to get my qr code reader to open. A young man on staff walked by and announced “ we’re not open yet”. We stated we where waiting patiently. A moment later two female servers walked up to the hostess station. I was struggling with a crashing app and a low battery on the phone. I asked politely. If my phone died and i was unable to use the app, did they have a menu available. Response was a very curt “ no menus “ . The hostess proceeded to pull out a stack of paper menus and began to wipe them off. When my partner then asked “ Those are menus correct? “ The hostess gave her a dirty look.

We began to walk to our car and the second hostess loudly asked their co worker “ what our problem was”

While driving to another venue for lunch I called to speak with a manager and was informed” no manager was available onsite”

What kind of staff is that rude and expects to make $ serving tables. I know pandemic life is hard and tourism service industry jobs are grinding. But to start your workday with this attitude and chase away clients is the worst way to ensure $ in your pocket.

Lesson learned, when Gilchrist has a line down the sidewalk and a 45 minute wait at 11am they are the superior dining experience. Spend your...